Rochester, New York

This article is about the city of Rochester in Monroe County. For the town in Ulster County, see Rochester, Ulster County, New York.

Rochester, New York
City
A portion of Rochester's skyline, looking north-northeast along the Genesee River from the Ford Street Bridge.
Flag of Rochester, New York Flag Seal
Nickname(s):  "The Flour City," "The Flower City," "The World's Image Centre" (sic)
Motto:  Rochester: Made for Living
Location of Rochester in New York State
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Monroe
Government
• Mayor	Robert Duffy (D)
Area
• City	37.1 sq mi (96.1 km2)
• Land	35.8 sq mi (92.8 km2)
• Water	1.3 sq mi (3.3 km2)
Elevation	505 ft (154 m)
Population  (2006)
• City	208,123 [1]
• Density	6,132.9/sq mi (2,368.3/km2)
• Metro	1,098,201 [2]
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	146xx (14604=downtown)
Area code	585
FIPS code	36-63000
GNIS feature ID	0962684
Website	www.ci.rochester.ny.us

Rochester, once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City or The World's Image Centre, is a city in Monroe County, New York, United States.

The City of Rochester is the county seat for Monroe County. It is at the center of a larger Metropolitan Area which encompasses and extends past Monroe County and includes Genesee County, Livingston County, Ontario County, Orleans County, and Wayne County. The Rochester Metro area is part of the Western New York region.

This large metropolitan area had a population of 1,037,831 people as of the 2000 Census. As of July 1, 2005, this population rose slightly to 1,039,028, making Rochester the third largest city in New York State with around 216,000 residents. Principal suburbs of the city include Brighton, Chili, East Rochester, Fairport, Gates, Greece, Henrietta, Irondequoit, Penfield, Pittsford, Spencerport, Victor, and Webster.

Rochester was ranked #6 among 379 U.S. Metro areas in the 25th edition of the Places Rated Almanac for Most Livable Cities. In 2007, Rochester was ranked the #1 city in the country by Expansion Management Magazine for best quality of life.

The current Mayor of Rochester is Robert Duffy, who was the city's Police Chief before assuming this role.

Founding and early history

Main article: History of Rochester, New York

Aqueduct of the Erie Canal as it was built in 1842, replacing the original construction from 1823. In the 1920s, the Broad Street Bridge was erected on top of it.

On November 8, 1803, a one-hundred acre (ca. 40 ha) tract of land in Western New York along the Genesee River was purchased by Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, Major Charles Carroll, and Colonel William Fitzhugh, all of Hagerstown, Maryland. The site was chosen because of three cataracts on the Genesee, offering great potential for water power. Beginning in 1811, and with a population of fifteen, the three founders surveyed the land and laid out streets and tracts. In 1817, the Brown brothers (of Brown's Race) and other landowners joined their lands with the Hundred Acre Tract to form the Village of Rochesterville.

By 1821, Rochesterville was the seat of Monroe County. In 1823, Rochesterville consisted of 1,012 acres (4 km²) and 2,500 residents, and the Village of Rochesterville became known as Rochester. Also in 1823, the Erie Canal aqueduct over the Genesee River was completed, and the Erie Canal east to the Hudson River was opened. Later, after the advent of railroads, the presence of the canal in the center city became bothersome, and it was re-routed south of Rochester. By 1830, Rochester's population was 9,200 and in 1834, it was re-chartered as a city.

Rochester was first known as "The Young Lion of the West", and then as the "Flour City". By 1838, Rochester was the largest flour-producing city. Having doubled its population in only ten years, Rochester became known as America's first "boomtown."

In 1847, Frederick Douglass founded the abolitonist newspaper The North Star in Rochester. Douglass, a former slave and an antislavery speaker and writer, gained a circulation of over 4,000 readers in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean. The North Star served as an important forum for abolitionist views.

In the early 20th century, Rochester also became a center of the garment industry, particularly in men's fashions. It was the home of such well-known enterprises as Fashion Park and Hickey-Freeman. In addition, it was home to the pioneer automobile company Cunningnam, produced by carriage maker James Cunningham and Sons.

The population reached 62,386 in 1870, 162,608 in 1900, and 295,750 in 1920. By 1950, population of the city had reached an all-time high of 332,488, and had declined to 219,773 by 2000.

Geography and climate

Barges on the Genesee River

Rochester skyline from the Cobbs Hill water reservoir

File:Xerox.jpg

View of downtown from Blue Cross Arena

Rochester is located at 43°9′56″N 77°36′41″W (43.165496, -77.611504).Template:GR The city is east of Buffalo, west of Syracuse and sits on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The Genesee River bisects the city.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 96.1 km² (37.1 sq mi). 92.8 km² (35.8 sq mi) of it is land and 3.3 km² (1.3 sq mi) of it (3.42%) is water.

Rochester's geography comes from the ice sheets during the Pleistocene epoch. The retreating ice sheets reached a standstill at what is now the southern border of the city, melting at the same rate as they were advancing, depositing sediment along the southern edge of the ice mass. This created a line of hills, including (from west to east) Mt. Hope, the hills of Highland Park, Pinnacle Hill, and Cobb's Hill. Because the sediment of these hills was deposited into a proglacial lake they are stratified and classified as a "kame delta." A brief retreat and readvance of the ice sheet onto the delta piled unstratified (moraine) material there, creating a rare hybrid structure called a "kame moraine."

The ice sheets also left behind Lake Ontario (one of the five fresh-water Great Lakes), the Genesee River with its waterfalls and gorges, Irondequoit Bay, Sodus Bay, Braddock's Bay, Mendon Ponds, numerous local streams and ponds, the Ridge, and the nearby Finger Lakes.

According to the City of Rochester, the city has 537 miles (864 km) of public streets, 585 miles (941 km) of water mains, 44 vehicular and eight pedestrian bridges, 11 public libraries, two police stations (one for the east side, one for the west), and 16 fire stations. The principal source of the city's water is Hemlock Lake, which, with its watershed, is wholly owned by the city. Other water sources are Canadice Lake and Lake Ontario. The 30-year annual average snowfall is 95.0 inches (2.4 m). The mean July temperature is 71.3 °F (21.8 °C), and the mean February temperature is 23.6 °F (−4.7 °C).

Rochester lies in the Humid continental climate zone, and has four distinct seasons, although its often cold and snowy winters may garner the most attention. Autumn features brilliant foliage colors, and summer sees warm comfortable temperatures that usually stay in the low to mid 80s. Precipitation is plentiful year round.

Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Rec High °F	74	73	84	93	94	100	98	99	99	91	81	72
Norm High °F	31.2	33.2	42.7	55.2	67.9	76.6	81.4	79.1	71.1	59.7	47.2	36.1
Norm Low °F	16.6	17.3	25.2	35.3	46.1	55	60	58.7	51.3	41.1	32.6	22.7
Rec Low °F	-17	-19	-7	13	26	35	42	36	28	20	5	-16
Precip (in)	2.34	2.04	2.58	2.75	2.82	3.36	2.93	3.54	3.45	2.6	2.84	2.73
Source: USTravelWeather.com [3]

Demographics

Rochester Population (1840-2004)
1840	20,191
1850	36,403
1860	48,204
1870	62,386
1880	89,366
1890	133,896
1900	162,608
1910	218,149
1920	295,750
1930	328,132
1940	324,975
1950	332,488
1960	318,611
1970	296,233
1980	241,741
1990	231,636
2000	219,773
2004	212,481

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 219,773 people, 88,999 households, and 47,169 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,368.3/km² (6,132.9/sq mi). There were 99,789 housing units at an average density of 1,075.3/km² (2,784.7/sq mi). The racial makeup of the city was 48.30% White, 38.55% African American, 0.47% Native American, 2.25% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 6.58% from other races, and 3.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.75% of the population.

Rochester has the largest deaf population per capita in the United States. Rochester is home to world-renowned programs for the deaf, at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (part of the Rochester Institute of Technology) and at the University of Rochester.

There were 88,999 households out of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 25.1% were married couples living together, 23.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.0% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.19.

The city population was spread out with 28.1% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.

The median income for a city household was $27,123, and the median family income was $31,257. Males had a median income of $30,521, versus $25,139 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,588. About 23.4% of families and 25.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.5% of those under age 18 and 15.4% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

The Rochester area is home to a number of international businesses, including Fortune 1000 companies Eastman Kodak, Constellation Brands, and Paychex, as well as several national and regional companies. Because of the high prevalence of imaging and optical science among the industry and the universities, Rochester is known as the world capital of imaging. The Institute of Optics of the University of Rochester is ranked number one in the country, and the Rochester Institute of Technology has one of the best imaging science departments in the country. In 2005, the University of Rochester became the largest employer in the Rochester area, surpassing Kodak.

The Gannett newspaper company and Western Union were both founded in the Rochester area by Frank Gannett and Hiram Sibley respectively.

Food and Beverage

File:~haut-cuisine in-rochester-n-y is-the-garbage plate.jpg

Rochester's most famous and unique cuisine - the "Garbage Plate".

One food product that Rochester is proud to call its own is the famous "white hot," made by the local Zweigle's company, which can be found at numerous area restaurants and hot dog stands. The white hot is essentially a German weisswurst.

Another local specialty is the "garbage plate," first served at Nick Tahou Hots. Fitting with its impact on the world of hot dogs and burgers, Rochester is also home to French's Mustard, whose eponymous address is 1 Mustard Street.

Rochester is also home to Wet Planet Beverages, producer of Jolt Cola and other premium beverage products. High Falls Brewing Company, maker of the Genesee brands of beers and JW Dundee's brand (Honey Brown) also calls Rochester home. Arbor Mist wines are also produced in nearby Canandaigua, NY by owner Constellation Brands.

National frozen food manufacturer Birds Eye is headquartered in suburban Rochester. Helluva Good Cheeses and Seneca Foods are headquartered in nearby Wayne County. The Ragu brand of pasta sauce was originally produced in Rochester, and the Francesco Rinaldi brand of pasta sauce is currently manufactured in Rochester.

Other local franchises include: Bill Gray's (a hamburger/hotdog joint that lays claim to having "The World's Greatest Cheeseburger"), Country Sweet (known for their chicken wings and unique BBQ sauce), Tom Wahl's, Dibella's, Great Northern Pizza Kitchen, Zebb's, Don's Original, and Abbott's Frozen Custard. Dinosaur Bar-b-que also operates their second ever franchise downtown in an old Lehigh Valley Railroad station on the Genesee River.

The Rochester area is the birthplace of the Wegmans Grocery store chain, which now has locations throughout the Northeast and Northern Virginia. In 2005, they were rated the #1 best company in America to work for by Fortune Magazine.

Major area shopping centers

• Eastview Mall (Victor, New York)
• The Mall at Greece Ridge Center (Greece, New York)
• The Marketplace Mall (Henrietta, New York)
• Medley Centre (formerly known as Irondequoit Mall) (Irondequoit, New York)
• Midtown Plaza
• Pittsford Plaza (Pittsford, New York)
• Rochester Public Market
• Village Gate Square

Top Six employers

As of 2006, the top employers in the city are:

• University of Rochester/Strong Health—17,199
• Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.—14,461
• Eastman Kodak—14,100
• Paychex-11,500
• Xerox—8,250
• ViaHealth—6,728

(Source: RochesterBiz.com)

Companies

Several companies have their corporate headquarters in the Greater Rochester area.

File:Ap steven sasson.jpg

'The digital camera was invented in Rochester'

• Bausch & Lomb - Contact lens care & Eye health
• Bird's Eye - Producer of frozen and packaged foods
• Carestream Health - Health equipment and technology
• Casa Larga - Winery
• CGI Communications - Internet video production
• Constellation Brands - Alcoholic beverages, importer of Corona (beer)
• Custom Brewcrafters - Regional Microbrewer
• Diamond Packaging - Merchandise labels and packaging
• Eastman Kodak Company - Photography and Printing
• Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield - Health care / insurance
• Frontier Telephone - Telecommunications
• Gatehouse Media - Owner/Publisher of regional periodicals
• Gleason Corporation - Gear equipment manufacturer
• Harris Interactive - Online surveys
• Hickey-Freeman - hand made suits and clothing, including the Bobby Jones line
• High Falls Brewing Co. (formerly Genesee Brewing Co.) - Beer and malt beverages (High Falls has recently begun producing beverages under the Genesee Brewing Co. name again)
• Home Properties - Apartment and Properties firm
• LiDestri Foods- Producer of Pasta Sauces
• Magnatag - Manufacturer of White board display systems
• Monro Muffler and Brake - Auto care chain
• Nalgene - Maker of Nalgene brand scientific and consumer products
• Nu-kote - Producer of ink and paper consumables
• PAETEC Holding Corp. - Telecommunications
• Paychex - Payroll and human resources
• Pfaudler - Glass-lined vessels and specialty chemical processing equipment
• Pictometry - Oblique aerial photography
• Rochester Midland Corporation - Chemical manufacturing
• Rohrbach's - Microbrewer of craft beer
• Sentry Safe - Security systems
• VirtualScopics, Inc - Medical Imaging Analysis
• Ward's Natural Science- Science educational materials
• Wegmans - Grocery store chain
• Wet Planet Beverages - Creator of Jolt cola
• 5link - Telecommunications

The city once was the corporate HQ to Gannett, French's, Western Union, Champion (sportswear) and Xerox.

Many large companies also have a significant presence in Rochester.

• Barilla Group - Pasta production
• Coca-Cola - Production and distribution
• CooperVision- Contact Lens manufacturer
• Corning Incorporated - Glass and related products
• Delphi - auto parts manufacturer has a research and development department
• General Motors - hydrogen powered research and development
• Harris - RF engineers radios and communications equipment
• ITT Corporation - Space Systems Division headquartered here
• Johnson & Johnson's Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics division
• M&T Bank - largest local banking franchise
• Pactiv - Producer of packaging materials, such as Hefty
• Thomson West - Publisher of law books and Westlaw online service
• Verizon wireless - Upstate NY call center
• Xerox - Manufacturing and Operations

Education

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School

Education is one of Rochester's primary economic areas. The city and its suburbs are home to a number of colleges and universities:

• Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School
• Monroe Community College
• Nazareth College
• Roberts Wesleyan College
• Rochester Institute of Technology
• Saint John Fisher College
• St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry
• SUNY Brockport
• University of Rochester (including the Eastman School of Music)

Together with Alfred University, SUNY Alfred,Empire State College, SUNY Geneseo, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges, each within an hour of Rochester, these institutions comprise the Rochester Area Colleges consortium.

University of Rochester

The University of Rochester (U of R), consistently ranked among the top 35 universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and deemed by Newsweek "one of the new Ivies," has some of the best undergraduate programs in the country when it comes to the arts, sciences, and engineering, and the medical school has top ranked research programs and one of the best primary care curricula in the nation. The business school is also at the top of its class in many categories.

River Campus of the University of Rochester

The University of Rochester's Laboratory For Laser Energetics (LLE) is home to the second highest energy laser in the world, the OMEGA laser. OMEGA is capable of emitting light at a power 100 times the electrical power output of the country in less than one billionth of a second. The LLE is currently constructing the OMEGA EP laser, which will be 50 times more powerful than OMEGA and will be the most powerful laser in the world, able to manifest power densities high enough to examine hawking radiation-like phenomena in the laboratory. The U of R's Laboratory for Laser Energetics is especially important now, because it serves at the US's main laser fusion program while the Department of Energy is building the National Ignition Facility. "The Laboratory for Laser Energetics has played a leading, national role in efforts to develop nuclear fusion as a reliable energy source and in the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship program," says University President Joel Seligman.

The University of Rochester is also home to its Eastman School of Music, which, according to U.S. News and World Report, is ranked the number one music school in America.

Rochester Institute of Technology

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is the tenth largest private University in the country in terms of full-time students and is known for its science, computer, engineering, and art programs. RIT is also home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, with an outstanding program for the education of deaf people and a top ranked American Sign Language program.

Monroe Community College

Monroe Community College (MCC) is known as one of the best community college systems in the nation, and has very highly ranked soccer and basketball teams. MCC is home to The Mercer Gallery where students and artists from all over the country exhibit work on a regular basis, located on MCC's Brighton Campus.

Roberts Wesleyan College

Roberts Wesleyan was ranked as the 3rd Best Value Private College in the U.S. by the Princeton Review in 2007—the only school in New York State to be ranked in the top 10. It is also Rochester's only college affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

Culture and recreation

Rochester is home to a number of cultural institutions including the world renowned Garth Fagan Dance, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, (a full philharmonic orchestra being unusual for a city the size of Rochester) the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, the Memorial Art Gallery, the Rochester Museum & Science Center, the Strong - National Museum of Play, the A|V Room, the Strasenburgh Planetarium, and numerous arts organizations. Rochester's Geva Theatre Center is the city's largest professional theatre.

File:Rochlittletheatre.jpg

The Little Theatre on East Avenue

Park lands

The Lilac Festival in Highland Park is an annual festival highlighting the beautiful flowers and park

The city's Victorian era Mt. Hope Cemetery includes the final resting place of several famous Americans, including Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and George Baldwin Selden (inventor of the automobile). Rochester is also known for its extensive park system, including the Highland Park, Cobb's Hill Park, Durand-Eastman Park, Genesee Valley Park, Maplewood Park, Edgerton Park, Seneca Park and Ontario Beach Park.

Lamberton Conservatory from 1911 in the Highland Park

The city also has 13 full-time recreation centers, 19 swimming programs, 3 artificial ice rinks, 66 softball/baseball fields, 47 tennis courts, 5 football fields, 7 soccer fields, and 43 outdoor basketball courts. Echoing its famous history as the Flower City, Rochester has a yearly Lilac Festival for ten days in May, when nearly 400 named varieties of lilacs bloom, and 100,000 visitors arrive from as far away as Europe and Japan.

Mumford, a hamlet in the town of Wheatland, is home to the Genesee Country Village and Museum, a combination of: a model village, where numerous examples of local architecture are preserved; sporting art and carriage museums; a nature center; and model gardens.

To Rochester's south is the scenic Letchworth State Park, the so-called "Grand Canyon of the East", with its spectacular canyon and waterfalls. Also to the south and southeast is the glacially-formed Finger Lakes Region, with its numerous lakes and waterfalls.

Festivals

Rochester has developed a number of festivals that celebrate the many aspects of Rochester life, and most of which occur between late spring and all throughout summer. These include the Rochester International Jazz Festival, established in 2002; the Corn Hill Festival (arts, crafts, and food in this historic Third Ward neighborhood); the Rochester-High Falls International Film Festival (held at the George Eastman House's Dryden Theatre and the Little Theatre downtown); the Image Out/Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (also held at the Little Theatre); the Clothesline Art Festival (artists from the region display their works on the grounds of the Memorial Art Gallery); the Park Avenue Merchants Festival; the Lilac Festival at Highland Park (world famous for its lilac bushes); the Rose Festival at Historic Maplewood Park; two annual Greek festivals - one on East Avenue (in June) and one on South Avenue (in September); the Puerto Rican Festival; the Rochester Music Festival; and the Cold Rush Winter Celebration (celebrating the wide variety of winter sports in the Rochester area).

During the summer, and especially on the 4th of July, downtown after dark is lit up with fireworks and a laser show at the High Falls Entertainment venue.

File:Smallrochjazzlogo.jpg

Vernacular

In the Greater Rochester Area, a soft drink can be referred to as "pop" or "soda", while hotdogs can be called "red hots" or "white hots" to distinguish the common (red) hotdog from its local hotdog variant which includes powdered milk in its ingredients. A banquet facility is known as a "party-house".

The nearby town of Chili is not pronounced like the food, but with long "i"s: "CHY-lye". The neighborhood of Charlotte is not pronounced like the North Carolina city but rather with the accent on the second syllable: "shar-LOT". The suburb of Riga is pronounced "RYE-ga" rather than the "REE-ga" pronunciation of the Eastern European city. The suburb of Bergen is pronounced "BER-jin" rather than "BER-gen" like the county in New Jersey.

Accent

A "Rochester accent" can be described as a form of Inland Northern American English, like a "Chicago accent" or a "Detroit accent". It has also been described as "nasally", most easily recognized by the vocalization of the short "a" (æ) sound: "and" is delivered as something closer to "i-uhnd" ([ˈɪənd]).

It is often described as including the pronunciation of the city itself as "Rach'str" ([ˈɹatʃ.stɚ]) or describing something as "faen-teas-tic."

Media

Rochester has one daily newspaper, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. There are four free weekly publications: City, which is an alternative news weekly; Rochester Insider, a weekly extension of the Democrat and Chronicle geared towards the under 35 crowd;, Rochester ConXion, another weekly extension of the Democrat and Chronicle geared toward the Latin American population and Golf Week Rochester which covers local, national and international golf. Other publications include the Rochester Business Journal, covering the local business community; The Jewish Ledger newspaper, one of the oldest weekly running publications on Jewish life locally and worldwide; and the monthly Empty Closet, New York's oldest gay and lesbian community newspaper.

Rochester has seven broadcast television stations: Γ*CBS: WROC 8 (cable 8)

• NBC: WHEC 10 (cable 10)
• ABC: WHAM 13 (cable 13)
• PBS: WXXI 21 (cable 11)
• FOX: WUHF 31 (cable 7)
• MyNetworkTV: WBGT 40/26 (cable 18)
• CW CW-WHAM (13-2) (cable 16)

Rochester's cable television provider is Time Warner Cable, which provides R News, a 24-hour local news channel.

Points of interest

• Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial
• Cobbs Hill Park and Reservoir
• Ellwanger Garden
• Genesee Country Village and Museum, about 20 miles (32 km) away
• George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film
• Geva Theatre Center
• Hamlin Beach
• High Falls and the High Falls Entertainment District
• Highland Park
• Kodak Park
• Liberty Pole
• Little Theatre, one of the oldest art-house movie theaters in the country
• Maplewood Park Rose Garden
• Mendon Ponds Park
• Midtown Plaza, the nation's first downtown shopping mall
• Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, the nation's first Victorian cemetery
• Nick Tahou Hots

The pier at Ontario Beach Park offers views of Lake Ontario and is a popular walk for Rochesterians

• Ontario Beach Park
• Port of Rochester (Charlotte)
• The Rochester Auditorium
• Rochester Institute of Technology
• SeaBreeze amusement park.
• Seneca Park Zoo, one of the top three family attractions in the area
• Strong - National Museum of Play, nation's second-largest children's museum housing the National Toy Hall of Fame
• Susan B. Anthony House
• Times Square Building, noted for its "Wings of Victory" statue.
• University Avenue and Park Avenue Artistic Districts
• University of Rochester
• University of Rochester Arboretum

The Eastman Theatre

• University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music and Eastman Theatre
• Water Street Music Hall

Sports

Rochester was named the #1 Minor League Sports market in the country by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal in July 2005; and the number 10 "best golf city" in America by Golf Magazine in 2007.

Professional sports

Rochester has seven professional sports teams.

Club Sport Founded League Venue Rochester Red Wings Baseball 1899 International League Frontier Field Rochester Americans Ice hockey 1956 AHL Blue Cross Arena Rochester Knighthawks Indoor lacrosse 1995 NLL Blue Cross Arena Rochester Raging Rhinos Soccer 1996 USL First Division PAETEC Park Rochester Rattlers Field lacrosse 2001 MLL PAETEC Park Rochester Razorsharks Basketball 2005 PBL Blue Cross Arena Rochester Raiders Indoor football 2006 CIFL Main Street Armory

Among cities in North America with at least seven current professional teams, Rochester is the only one whose teams all have cumulative winning regular season records.

The Rochester Red Wings baseball club, the AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, play in the International League. The Rochester Americans ice hockey team, the AHL affiliate for the NHL Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, are commonly known as the "Amerks". The Rochester Raging Rhinos soccer club play in the USL First Division, which is the second-highest level American soccer league.

Frontier Field, including the Rochester skyline to the southeast.

There are two professional lacrosse teams in Rochester. The Rochester Knighthawks club plays box lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League during the winter and spring. In the summer, the Rochester Rattlers club plays field lacrosse in the Major League Lacrosse organization.

PAETEC Park

The newest local professional sports teams are the Rochester Razorsharks (of the Premier Basketball League) and the Rochester Raiders (Continental Indoor Football League).

Rochester is also home to the Empire State Roar, a semi-pro team in the league known as the Women's Professional Football League, and the Rochester Rhinos women's team of the W-League, an advanced amateur tier of the United Soccer Leagues.

Professional golf regularly comes to Rochester. The PGA Championship and the US Open have been held at Oak Hill Country Club several times (along with the 1995 Ryder Cup. The Xerox Classic Tournament on the Nationwide Tour comes here every August. The Wegmans LPGA tournament is held yearly in June at Locust Hill Country Club.

While Rochester currently has no teams at the top level of any of the major American sports, the city does host training camp for the NFL's Buffalo Bills each summer (since 2000) at St. John Fisher College in the suburban town of Pittsford. The absence of a major pro sports team in the area has not always been the case. From 1920–1925, Rochester was home to the Rochester Jeffersons, a charter member of the National Football League. From 1948–1957, the Rochester Royals played in the National Basketball Association, winning the NBA championship in 1951. In soccer, the Rochester Lancers played from 1970–1980 in the top-level North American Soccer League.

Since 1877, twenty-nine different teams in eight professional sports have represented Rochester. In the spring of 2006, local sports historian Douglas Brei determined that collectively Rochester's professional sports teams would soon surpass the 25,000-game milestone. That historic game was played on June 16, 2006 when the hometown Red Wings hosted the Indianapolis Indians at Frontier Field.

Only six active franchises in the history of North American professional sports have played in the same city and same league continuously and uninterrupted since the 1800s: The Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Rochester Red Wings.

The city has two independent pro-wrestling leagues: Next Era Wrestling and NWA Upstate which operate in and around the city. Rochester is unofficially known as the Wrestling Capital of Upstate New York.

Rochester is considered within the home territory of the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres are further tied to Rochester through their owner, Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano.

College sports

Almost all area college sports are played at the NCAA Division III level. An exception is the RIT men's ice hockey team, which moved up to the Division I level in 2005. Hobart College, an hour away from Rochester in Geneva, has a Division I men's lacrosse team.

Among junior colleges, MCC is dominant in NJCAA Division II sports.

Club Sports

Rochester is home to two men's rugby teams, the Rochester Aardvarks and the Colonials. Both teams have long and storied histories, with the Rochester Aardvarks recently celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2006. The Aardvarks also possess the distinction of being one of the few rugby teams in the country to own its own pitch: Aardvark Park in Henrietta, New York.

Transportation

Maritime transport

There is marine freight service at the Port of Rochester on Lake Ontario, which is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence Seaway.

A short-lived, high-speed passenger/vehicle ferry Spirit of Ontario I, which was nicknamed The Breeze, linked Rochester to Toronto, Ontario across Lake Ontario. It operated between June 17, 2004, and December 12, 2005, and cost the city $42.5 million. It was sold to Forde Reederei Seetouristik Gmbh & Co., a German company, for $30 million.

Air transport

Rochester is served by the Greater Rochester International Airport. Daily scheduled air service is provided by Air Canada / Air Georgian, AirTran Airways, American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Northwest, United, and US Airways. Most services are express services to larger airports.

Mass transit

See also: Rochester (Amtrak station)

Amtrak (passenger) and freight lines provide rail service to Rochester. Rochester has intercity and transcontinental bus service via Greyhound and Trailways.

Local bus service in Rochester and its immediate (Monroe County) suburbs is provided by the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA) via its Regional Transit Service (RTS) subsidiary. RTS also provides suburban service outside of the immediate Rochester area and also runs several smaller transportation systems in outlying counties, such as WATS (Wayne Area Transportation System).

From 1927 to 1957, Rochester had a light rail underground transit system called the "Rochester Subway". It was the smallest city in the world to have one. There are proposals to put in a new system, possibly using some of the old tunnels. One proposal includes converting the old Broad St. Bridge tunnel into an underground pedestrian walkway, which would also include a Rochester Transportation Museum, and a rumored "tram" system.

The former subway tunnels have become something of a controversy. Many of the city's homeless use the abandoned tunnels for shelter, and a few areas near the tunnel entrances have gained the reputation as being 'dangerous'. One proposal put before the City Council has asked the city to fill the tunnels in with dirt. This proposal has generated controversy, as the cost of filling in the tunnels would be comparable to that of restoring the Rochester Subway. It is also opposed by many who consider this to be inhumane treatment of the homeless persons living in the tunnels.

See [4] for a map of the old line. The Genesee River bridge (Broad Street) that it used retains the lower track level.

Roads

There are three exits off the New York State Thruway (Interstate 90) that serve Rochester. Rochester has an extensive freeway (expressway) system which connects all parts of the city and the city with the Thruway. During the Thruway's construction, a disagreement between the governor of New York and mayor of Rochester resulted in a purposeful bypass of downtown Rochester, leaving the city struggling for growth in the decades following.

Rochester's expressway system, conceived in the 1950s, was designed as two concentric circles with feeder expressways from the west, south and east. The system allows for quick travel within the metropolitan area and a lack of the traffic gridlock typically found in cities of comparable size; in part this is because the system was designed to accommodate an anticipated year-2000 metro population of 5 million, whereas the actual present-day population is just under one million.

The Outer Loop circles just outside the city limits while the Inner Loop circles around the immediate downtown area within the city proper. From the west are Lake Ontario State Parkway, NY-531 and I-490; Interstate 390 feeds from the south; and NY-104, NY-441, and I-490 approach from the east.

Interstate 390 runs south-north, crossing I-90 (exit 46) and routing north through Rochester's western suburbs. Its northern end is at I-490, however it continues north as NY-390 until it merges into the Lake Ontario State Parkway. South of I-90, I-390 runs to Avoca, New York, where it meets up with U.S. Highway 15 and the Southern Tier Expressway, I-86.

Interstate 490 runs west-east through Rochester, starting at Le Roy, New York and ending in Victor, New York. It interchanges with the two other Interstates in Rochester: I-390 at the western city limit and I-590 at the eastern limit, as well as connecting at both ends with the Thruway, I-90 (exits 47 and 45). In July 2007, a new bridge over the Genesee River was completed and named the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge.

Interstate 590 runs south-north through Rochester's eastern suburbs. Its southern end is at I-390, while the northern end is at I-490; the highway continues north to the shore of Lake Ontario as NY-590.

In decreasing usage is the term "Can of Worms", referring to the previously dangerous at-grade intersection of Interstate 490 and expressway NY-590 on the eastern edge of the Rochester city limits, bordering the suburb of Brighton. In the 1980s, a multimillion dollar project created a system of overpasses and ramps that reduced the danger but resulted in the loss of certain exits.

Citizens of note

See List of people from Rochester, New York

Sister cities

Rochester has ten sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI). They are all dedicated by a branched concrete walkway over the Genesee River, dubbed the Sister Cities Bridge (known as the Frank and Janet Lamb Bridge since October 2006):

• Bamako, Mali
• Caltanissetta, Italy
• Hamamatsu, Japan
• Kraków, Poland
• Novgorod, Russia
• San Felipe de Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
• Rehovot, Israel
• Rennes, France
• Waterford, Ireland
• Würzburg, Germany

External links

• Template:Wikitravel
• Rochester at Curlie
• City of Rochester
• Greater Rochester Visitors Association
• Rochester Wiki
• Picture Rochester
• Rochester's Deaf Community

43°9′56″N 77°36′41″W